Bradley Barns Nursery

A working dairy farm, over 100 acres of private farmland and woodland learning give Bradley Barns Nursery its character. The countryside is part of the children's learning, rather than simply the backdrop. Converted farm buildings provide the indoor setting, while Forest School adds practical outdoor experiences, including learning about wildlife and using woodland tools safely.

At its 4 January 2023 inspection, Ofsted judged Bradley Barns Nursery Good overall, found that its curriculum supported children's progress and judged safeguarding effective. That is a dated assessment. A later regulatory finding about notifying significant events also matters to the decision, and is covered below.

Based at Bradley Farm, Bradley, Whitchurch, SY13 4QY, the setting's current age range extends from birth to eight years. It opens throughout the year on weekdays, with bank holidays excluded.

Learning and Activities

The early years foundation stage provides the framework for children's learning, development and care: play, conversation and practical experiences help children build language, independence and early mathematical understanding. Farm life and Forest School give those experiences a recognisable setting. Woodland activities include identifying wildlife and trees, learning safe tool use and exploring campfires with appropriate safety teaching.

Indoors, the converted farm buildings have a neutral decorative scheme. Resources are reconsidered and rotated, and children's work supplies colour on the walls. This makes the indoor offer about changing opportunities to explore rather than a fixed collection of toys.

In January 2023, babies explored a sensory box while staff introduced words describing textures and appearance. Older children discussed story characters and anticipated what might happen next. Counting songs introduced younger children to numbers, while older children used mathematical vocabulary and recognised shapes around them. These examples show how language and early mathematics entered ordinary activities.

Outdoor and Community Life

In January 2023, children grew vegetables, prepared them for cooking and helped care for animals. Farm experiences connected food with its origins: children talked about cows supplying milk and awaited new lambs. Making a bird box involved hammers and nails. The practical value is clear: children could connect an explanation with something they had handled or observed.

Cooperation also had concrete outlets that January. Children helped one another with bird feeders and puzzles, and older children took a lead in activities. Putting on coats, washing hands and managing toileting gave them practice in tasks needed when moving to another room or starting school.

Relationships and Communication

Famly App connects the nursery day with home through photographs, videos and staff observations. Parents can add their own notes for their child's key person, so communication works in both directions. A home observation can become part of the conversation about the child's learning, rather than waiting for the next face-to-face exchange.

In January 2023, babies turned to their key person when uncertain and settled with that familiar adult. Parents were kept informed about their children's progress. Those are useful examples of relationships and communication at that time, rather than a description of today's settling arrangements.

Inclusion and Wellbeing

The team includes a SENCO role, providing a designated point of responsibility for special educational needs. Safeguarding procedures set out referral routes for concerns about a child and allegations involving staff, including notification responsibilities. These are arrangements, rather than an independent assurance about their effectiveness today.

Country Kitchen uses a seasonal menu on a three-week rotation, with food cooked on site and locally sourced produce included. The nursery's dietary policy allows adaptations for allergies, intolerances, religious requirements and other health needs; families affected by these should confirm current arrangements before attendance.

Following a regulatory telephone call on 22 August 2024, Ofsted found that safeguarding procedures had been followed and appropriate safeguarding training obtained, but that the nursery had failed to notify it of a significant event. The outcome dated 23 August 2024 stated that the provider remained registered. The notification failure is the latest published regulatory position on that issue; it should not be read as a finding that the safeguarding procedures themselves had been absent.

Sessions and Attendance

Opening hours are 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, throughout the year except bank holidays. That window gives families the overall operating day, rather than specifying a booking pattern.

In January 2023, nursery session times were 7.30am to 6pm, with out-of-school sessions running from 7.30am to 9am and 3.30pm to 6pm. These are historical session arrangements and should be kept separate from the current opening hours.

Enquiries can be made through the contact form, by telephone on 01948 838321 or by email at info@bradleybarnsnursery.co.uk.

Getting There

Bradley Farm is between the A41 and B5395, three miles from Malpas. The nursery has a private access drive and CCTV, giving the approach a defined access route.

Funding and Paid Extras

Funded childcare is offered for nine-month-olds and children aged two, three and four, with 15 or 30 hours described. The nursery offers different ways of arranging those hours; entitlement and the attendance agreement need to be considered separately. Families should obtain current prices in a written quotation.

• Notification of significant events. The regulatory outcome dated 23 August 2024 recorded a failure to notify a significant event. Ask how notification responsibilities are now assigned and checked.
• Time to answer. In January 2023, questioning sometimes moved too quickly or was pitched at the wrong level, and staff did not consistently exchange effective practice across the nursery. During a visit, ask how practitioners allow thinking time and share approaches between rooms.
• The attendance agreement. Weekday opening runs from 7.30am to 6pm, and funded hours can be arranged in different ways. Ask for a written proposal setting out your child's booking pattern, how funding is delivered, and responsibility for meals and consumables.

Bradley Barns suits families who value a working-farm setting and want woodland learning to sit alongside indoor play. Forest School gives the outdoor offer specific content, while Famly App provides a practical connection between nursery and home.

The January 2023 judgement supplies a positive, dated assessment. It also leaves two useful questions about teaching practice: how children are given time to respond and how staff share effective methods. The August 2024 notification finding deserves direct discussion. Together, those points make this a nursery to assess through its practical farm offer, the proposed attendance agreement and clear answers about current responsibilities.